The Dragon's Tamer
by Know-It-All-2009
Summary: War has broken out sooner than anyone expected; all high risk muggle borns are sent into hiding. Being basically held captive half way across the world will Hermione Granger sink into the fear or will she find love in the most unlikely of places.
1. 01 Hidden

The Dragon's Tamer  
Rating: K to Teen  
Pairings: Hermione Granger & Charlie Weasley

Authoress Note: I have a very good beta currently but unfortunately she is not as familiar with the Harry Potter Universe to do more than check for grammar and spelling. If anyone is interested, I have this chapter and the next finished and waiting on a beta. Email me at please and thank you!

She had been at the Dragon Reserve since the beginning of what was supposed to be her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The war had broken out sooner than they all had expected and the attacks on the muggle borns had increased dramatically. The Order of the Phoenix had stepped in and had made several well known muggle borns, both at Hogwarts and within the general Wizarding community disappear, making it seem as if rouge death eaters had decided to take them out on their own in order to please their master.

It had been deemed that Hermione Granger would be one of those high target muggle borns, being Harry Potter, the Wizarding world's savior, and Ron Weasley, a blood traitor in the eyes of the Death Eaters, best friends. It made Hermione nervous, not because she was to go into hiding, but because she would miss out on her OWL level classes and her NEWT exams, much to Ron and Harry's dismay. Professor McGonagall did her best to relax Hermione's fears, saying she was a bright student and she could sit her exams at the same time as the others except for an examiner would be sent to her. All of her course books and any other books she deemed necessary would be sent to her, courtesy of Hogwarts and her parents. That pleased her, the thought of having unlimited books at her disposal however she did miss the instruction from a formal teacher even if this did give her more freedom to slow down and speed up her lesson plans as she deemed necessary.

Being Hermione Granger, she was one not to want to fall behind on her school, was having more of a practical approach to her lessons, the other Keepers and other various people working on the Romanian Dragon Reserve stopping their work occasionally to help explain something to her that she had read in her required texts. If one counted all the other various subjects that she was researching and learning about while being basically held prisoner for her own safety on a dragon reserve thousands of miles from her home she would well be qualified for acceptance to any apprenticeship of her choice to become a Master. It was a Saturday, which meant that Charlie Weasely had the day off, her warden for lack of a better term. She should probably find him and have him help her practice some of her Defense Against the Dark Arts work as well as hunt down the Mediwitch and head healer to see if she could start doing some brewing for them as far as potions went, it would keep her top notch and would set requirements and standards that where close to those of Professor Snape's and it would keep the healer's tent in well stocked supply.

Currently she had her nose in a book that Healer Smith had recommend, _1,001 Magical Mishaps in Healing_ and was taking notes when someone knocked on her tent door. Looking up she saw a head of red hair attached to a stocky young man enter the tent.

"Good morning Hermione." He said as he walked past her and into the kitchen of the tent they shared.

"Good morning yourself Charlie, enjoy your run?" she asked, wrinkling her nose as the stench of the sweat that poured off his body reached her.

"It was ok. Essie decided to join me but other than that it was uneventful."

Hermione watched him as he filled a glass of water and downed it in a few short gulps, something that was for sure to give him hiccups within a few minutes.

"So Essie's leg has healed up ok?" Hermione asked, true interest in her voice as she pushed back a lock of her hair behind her ear, hoping it would hold it in place. Essie was a golden blonde retriever that had wandered up into the dragon reserve past all the anti-muggle wards and straight into Hermione's tent one day. About a week back she had gotten brave enough to play with a little hatchling and in the process got her back right leg singed a little which had prevented her from going with Charlie on his usual morning runs.

"So far so good, the cream the Healer gave for me to put on it seems to be working wonders."

As to prove this point Essie popped her head into the tent, seemed to take an inventory before making a bee line for Hermione, pushing her book and notes to the side and burrowing her head into Hermione's shoulder as Hermione praised her and began rubbing on her back.

"How's your school working coming?" he asked as he slipped back into his room, leaving the door open to allow them to be able to continue their conversation.

"Good, I'm ahead of schedule but if anything I can sit my exams early and just be done with all this stress but we're only two months into the school year so we'll see." As she spoke Charlie watched her as she set down her book, sticking a book mark on the page she stopped on before heading to the kitchen and pulling out a tea kettle and giving it a wave in Charlie's direction.

"Tea? Because what they serve in the cafeteria is not tea, no matter what you say Mr. Weasely." Her voice held a bit of familiar cheek to it, as Charlie did something very unlike him, he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Yes please, and I know that what they call tea in the cafeteria is just herbs in water it really shouldn't be allowed to be called as such."

Just then an owl swooped in with several envelopes and a small package with Hermione's name on it. Hermione watched as she added water to the kettle as Charlie untied the letters and package from Errol's foot and gave it a dish of owl treats for which he received a very enthusiastic hoot. Pulling two letters from the stack he handed Hermione the package and three letters, one from her parents, one from Ron and Harry, and the third from Professor McGonagall, who along with Professor Snape where her academic advisors.

Pulling the string on the package allowed it to expand into its full size as a handful of books scattered themselves on the table.

There were three potions books, one on healing potions, one on dangerous potions, and one on forbidden potions that only the most highly respected potions masters knew about, one book on animgiu transformations, one on using Herbology for healing, one OWL prep book and one NEWTS prep books used for students that where usually homeschooled and then two books that would begin her Masters study for Transfiguration and Potions, both several hundred pages long and only the first in their series.

"Seems like you have some very high ambitions." Charlie stated more than asked as he scanned her pile of books as she organized them.

"Not so much ambitions as I know what I want and I'm going to go after it." She said as she began flipping through the Masters Study for Transfiguration book, skimming the table of contents.

"So basically yes you have very high ambitions." His laugh filled the tent, as the tea kettle began to sing a high pitched wail, letting them know that their water was now hot.

"If you can call it that."

Hermione watched as Charlie stretched before making his way towards the cabinet and pulling down two coffee mugs, placing two tea bags inside of each before pouring the boiling hot water over them and allowing them to seep as he handed one to Hermione who absentmindedly began to dunk her tea bag in a repetitive motion, coming to sit at the kitchen table moving her pile of books to sit before her.

"Are you going to read your mail?"

Charlie's voice startled her from the sip of tea she had been about to partake of, almost causing her to spill her mug, before noticing that he had moved her three letters to rest on top of her stack of books.

"I don't think it's any of your business when I chose to read my mail; but yes I am going to read my letters."

Deciding that the letter from Ron and Harry was sure to lift her spirits she slipped her nail underneath the edge of the seal, breaking it in a swift movement, before unfolding the unusually long letter.

Dear Hermione,

Sorry it's been so long since we've written there's just been so much going on with school and the dangers of Lord Voldemort's attacks on muggle borns, more students have gone into hiding than ever which is doing Hogwarts no favors, it used to be that Hogwarts was the safest place for us all and now it's just a deserted wasteland of half bloods and pure bloods that think they're better than everyone else. School seems to be the only thing unchanged as the Professor's are bound and determined that everything goes on as it does before. I talked to Professor McGonagall and she assured me that you weren't falling behind on your school work; which I'm proud of. I wish I could give you access to the Black Family Library but Professor Dumbledore thinks there is a traitor among the Order, hence why your with Charlie instead of at Order Headquarters. Padfoot said to say hello and that he would gladly send you anything from the library that you required or would make you copies of anything you desired, all in the quest for knowledge.

Griffindor's down by half of it's students, Hufflepuff is down by over half , Slytherin is at full capacity as is Ravenclaw, only a few have left from there. The morale is down and this war is starting sooner than we ever anticipated and that was what his goal was.

Take care Hermione and stay safe,

Harry J. Potter  
Ron B. Weasely

There letter was no surprise as she had already known that the school was going to be hit the hardest with attacks on muggle born students. They had no way to defend themselves over holidays and their parents where defenseless. The letter from her parents was short and to the point but it did more for her nerves that Ron and Harry's letter had.

Dear Hermione,

We've been taken into Protective Custody by some members of your Order of the Phoenix who have said it would not be safe for us here for a while. They say we'll get to see you here soon which would be wonderful as we miss you. We have closed our dental practice, or rather sold it,, and are sitting on the money to reopen it one day. We'll just call it a relocation. Tonks has said that if all goes well they will be able to reinstate us in another part of the world under new identities once all the madness dies down. We've been assured this letter's protection but it is still best to keep it short.

Keep your chin up love; we're proud of you for being a witch never doubt that Hermione Granger; and tell Charlie that we're grateful for his watching over you as we are to the entire Weasley Clan.

Mom & Dad

They were safe; they had been relocated as promised and where probably about to relocate again once this madness died down; that was all that mattered. The last letter would just be a detailed report on her previous months homework and a detailed list of assignments for this month's work; last month's had been turned in two weeks early as it kept her sane to keep busy; hence the Mastery level work.

"Have you asked for the books you'll need for your Healing work yet? Speaking of has Minerva approved of the added curriculum?" Charlie asked, bring her back from her thoughts as she fingered the letter that Minerva had sent her.

"That's what this reply should be Charlie. Last she told me was that she would get together with Poppy and get together a basic curriculum, send it back to me for Healer Smith's approval and collaboration and from there I would receive marks for my healing work at a University level, they've all said it should help with my Potions Mastery so if anything a solid foundation won't hurt anything. As for the books Healer Smith said he would give me my book list based off of the curriculum decided upon."

Charlie watched as she worked herself up into a frenzy before opening the letter that had been sitting in front of her for the past fifteen minutes as she sipped her tea.

Miss Granger,

Here you will find your marks for September and your work for October as well as some instruction for your Mastery Level work you wished to attempt.

September's Marks:

**Transfiguration:**

Essays & Readings:

Essay On Practical Animgiu Transformations: E  
Essay On Transfiguration Of Self : E  
Essay On Transfiguration: From One State of Matter to Another: E  
Reading Assignment Standard Book of Spells Year 6 pgs 300-350 (notes): O  
Essay From Reading Assignment: E 

Practical:

None

**Divination: ***Since you have just picked up Divination, for reasons beyond my comprehension, you are still three years behind on material; please keep that in mind although since Professor Trewenly is no longer with us you should be fine*

Essays & Readings:

Dream Journal: O  
Essay on the art of Tea Reading: E  
Essay on Comparison and Contrast of Three Types of Divination: Unmarked (Please rewrite and return in; you are capable of better work Ms. Granger your thoughts were unorganized and non-related)

Practical:

Dream Journal: E

**Potions:**

Essays:

10 Inches on Draught of Living Dead: P  
10 Inches on Polyjuice Potion: A 

Practical:

Draught of Living Dead: E  
Polyjuice Potion (at month's end): E

Ms. Granger, when I requested an essay I did not want an reiteration of what the book said, use the books as sources and not as your ideas. Allow your own ideas to come through, rewrite both essays for a remark as well as an essay on why it is important to learn to think outside of textbook logic.

**Care of Magical Creatures:**

Essay:

10 Uses of Unicorn's Blood: E

**Charms:**

Essay:

Essay on the Idea Behind Protective Wards: E**  
**Essay on Blood Wards and Why They Are Banned: E

**Defense Against the Dark Arts:**

Essay:

The Ideals Behind the Dark Lord's Rise to Power: E  
Boggarts: E

Pratical:

Defense From Boggart: E

**History of Magic**

Essay on the Reasoning Behind the First Goblin War: E  
Test on First Goblin War: E

**Herbology**

Practical:

Growth of Mandrake's: E  
Growth of Devil's Snare: E

Essay:

Uses of Mandrake: E

**Muggle Studies**

Essay:

Why muggle born children become witches and wizards: E

If you wish an examiner may be sent to you at any time to sit your OWLS. You are well prepared.

**Arithmancy**

Birthday Calculations: E  
Name Calculations: E

**Astronomy **

Astrology Chart: E**  
**

"I've got to rewrite three essays; two for Potions one for Divination and an extra essay for Potions on not thinking like a text book and that's on top of this month's work, which I haven't even looked at." Hermione said, a dejected sigh coming through her words.

"It's not all that bad pet. The school work gives you something to do and it keeps you busy and the rewrites aren't going to be that hard to do. Just tweak what you have already and add in some insight as for the thinking outside the box essay I'd say write that one first and be done with it."

The rest of Hermione's morning was spent in writing on of her harder essays, one that did not require sources but pure thought, and thought alone, but as she was dubbed the smartest witch of her age, she managed to have a rough draft finished by the afternoon, something of which she was proud of as she sat there proofreading it for the first time with a red pen as her aid.

Charlie would occasionally pop his head up from the book that he sat reading, watching her work and offering some advice when she started talking to herself out loud trying to work out a problem that she had run into.

A plate of food being set down next to her told her that she had worked well past lunch and had almost worked herself past dinner as well, if it had not been for Charlie's thoughtfulness.

"Thanks Charlie!" her enthusiasm showed as her eyes took in the sandwich that was laid out before her like a feast. "It looks delicious; I've gotten the extra essay for Snape done, the essay on Polyjuice rewritten or at least a rough draft, and the Draught of the Living Dead rough draft done as well. So that leaves one more rough draft for my Divination essay and then the actual rewrites."

She paused as she took a bite of the ham sandwich enjoying the way the ham, cheese, and pickles tasted to her food starved mouth.

"If you'll give me the three you have written I'll proofread them for you after dinner and you can start on the rough draft for your Divination essay while I work on them."

Hermione nodded her consent before taking a sip of the cold iced tea that had been placed down with her meal, it wasn't English tea but it was good.

"I'll make you a copy; I like to keep a copy of my rough drafts with my finals even after I turn them in. That way in case something gets lost I know where an extra copy is."

"Fair enough, I know poor Flitwick has lost an essay of mine or two in the past the poor guy, he was very much unorganized at the time." Charlie said, nodding his agreement as he polished off his sandwich before taking her three essays and spreading himself out on the couch and began reading first for grammatical errors and then syntax and knowledge errors as Hermione settled in to start on her Divination rewrite after a quick brush up on her notes that she had taken.


	2. 02 Just Another Day

The Dragon's Tamer

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is © of JK Rowling & © movie rights of Warner Brothers.

Authoress Note: Thanks to AnMarie10 from ! This chapter is dedicated to you for being my first reviewer!

02 Just Another Day

Night time came fast on the Romania Dragon Reserve even if dinner was eaten at an early hour so that the sun would still be up for those going to the mess hall. Night time here, even after two months still fascinated her, as the sounds of mother dragons, who still had their eggs cooing to their young could be heard throughout the night a glance at her watch told her it was twenty to six pm which meant it was time for her mini watch with Healer Smith's team, who had started at five that afternoon. Changing into a pair of worn out blue jeans and a loose fitting gray tank top she pulled her bushy hair into a tight pony tail before holstering her wand at her bare arm in the new holster the Healer had given her; saying it was necessary for safety to have your wand as close as possible but out of the way while healing, as needed of course.

As she walked through the reserve people stopped to talk to her as they either ended or started their shifts, most deciding to walk with her a ways to the Healer tent. Janie who was a Mediwitch-in-training met up with Hermione on her walk, both heading in for their mini shift for the night; pretty soon they would be taking on full shifts of twelve hours on, twelve off, something that would take their body a while to adjust to.

"What's up Granger?" Janie asked, as they walked at a comfortable pace to the healing tent, watching the sun set as they walked.

"Nothing much, got a letter from my parents; they've been relocated for safety and have shut down their business. Got this month's school work turned in with two weeks to spare so they've already sent down October's work as well as some books on starting my work on my Mastery's as well as my Healing curriculum so I get credit for the training with Healer Smith."

"Damn girl, you do like to stay busy. I'm just swamped with Healer training as it is, but you aren't known as the brightest witch of our age for nothing." Janie said, laughing as they entered the Healer's tent for their six hour shift.

Healer Smith was a small woman by some means, but had the hidden muscle to back up her attitude she displayed with her trainees. Aside from Hermione there were four trainees for this rotation, Janie, Darrell, Amanda and Spencer. Spencer, Amanda and Darrell all came from the Salem Institute of Magic in America and was studying with St. Theresa Hospital while Janie had come from Hogwarts but two years prior and was studying at St. Mungo's Hospital.

As it was the healer tent was quite for most of the evening which meant that it was a lesson in the proper paperwork and documentation that was required of a healer or trainee as the case may be. The amount of documentation for a trainee was slightly greater than that of a healer due to the learning circumstances they were under so every little thing was required to be documented. Being only three people in the healer tent, Janie and Hermione were teamed up to do a full body assessment, and Amanda, Darrell, and Spencer were each given their own person to assess.

The patients were very cooperative except when they felt the need to liven up the mood and would say stop breathing during a breathe count or intentionally slow down their heart beat when beats per minute where being taken, overall it took the trainees an hour and a half to complete the assessment, with Hermione and Janie finishing first as they worked well together as a team. With the assessment finished it was time to start on the mountain of paper work that was required for each patient. A medical background took the longest usually as most of the time you could not get the background from the person required and had to get it from a family member, but since this was a different scenario they were simply allowed to pull the background from the patient's medical files.

It took them another hour to finish out the paperwork required for the patient which still left them three hours left to their shifts which had Healer Smith setting them about to different tasks, Hermione being set to continuing work on the potions and balms needed for the healing tent, for which she was grateful for. Healing was just something that she wanted to learn for the upcoming war, potions however one of her concentrated areas of study was and there was something about it that relaxed her, almost like baking. Not everyone could bake, and not everyone could create a passable potion, but she was looking to go beyond making a passable potion she wanted to become a Potions Mistress, if things turned out her way she would end of either with her own shop or back at Hogwarts teaching potions, or better yet at one of the higher institutions of learning teaching upcoming Masters how to stopper death and bewitch the senses, to borrow from her favorite Potions Master.

The last major correspondence she had received from Professor Snape had said that while he refused to take her on as an apprentice he would guide her in the right directions as far as texts and tombs went and what was on or beyond or even beneath her level. She had many, many ideas she wanted to try out when it came to potions, but for now she had to concentrate on making it through her OWLS and NEWTS before anything else and if she could not write a passable essay she would fail a whole portion of her OWLS and NEWTS which was unacceptable. Currently she was also waiting on correspondence from Professor Slughorn as well, having sent him a copy of the essays Professor Snape had rejected, having wanted a second opinion from someone she trusted to give her an honest answer instead of a biased one and to see if he would take her on as an apprentice if he had a safe house as to where to house her. Personally she would have preferred that Professor Snape had done her apprentice that way she could do her Potions and Transfiguration apprenticeships at the same time without having to travel back and forth and to worry about her OWLS and NEWTS at the same time. Charlie had told her to stop worrying about so much at one time, to get through with her OWLS first and then concentrate on her NEWTS and then do her Mastery Levels and apprenticeships at the same time which seemed like logical sound advice but first she had to be able to write an acceptable potions essay.

She did have the option of going back to Hogwarts should Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape deem it safe; and if both apprenticeships had been approved she would be give her own room and a different timetable than those of her fellow students but she was truly enjoying the academic freedom of being able to complete her work as she wished, which was usually well ahead of schedule, although it was passable to set up the same system while she was at Hogwarts but Hogwarts didn't feel like the safe academic institution that it once was and she knew that somewhere deep within her heart.

The last three hours of her shift melted in and out as she brewed potions and worked on potions that needed tweaking or adjusting as to strength and quantity. With her hair pulled back into a sloppy bun she made a beautiful sight that many of the reservation would have loved to have known personally but Hermione had made it clear, to the one unfortunate bloke that had tried to make a move on her that she was not interested in any advances made by any of the tamers or for that matter healers. She was here for her safety and to study and that was the end of that. Charlie Weasley was the only person on the Reservation that knew the real reason she was there; and it was to stay that way for her entire stay at the Reserve and she understood why even if she didn't like it. A look at her watch told her it was past midnight and well past the end of her shift, as she gave a finally stir and cast a stability charm on her potion before bidding Healer Smith goodnight and exiting the tent only to see Charlie leaning against the side of the tent a lite cigarette in his mouth.

"What are you doing here Charlie?" she asked, as she pulled her cloak tighter around her against the sudden winds that had come about that night on the mountain.

"I was awake. I figured I'd walk you back."

His reply made sense to anyone who knew him from the outside, he was just worried about his charges safety; but to Hermione who had been here almost an entire two months and had yet to have Charlie walk her home from her late shifts with the Healer's it was odd to say the least, but Charlie was Charlie and he didn't do anything he didn't have a reason behind, even if you as a passive observer didn't know what his reasoning was.

The walk back to their tent was quite to say the least as they enjoyed the silence that night time on the reserve so rarely offered. It was a nice reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the day time noises that started well before the sun rose as shift change was around five am in the morning, which would call Charlie to work in five hours, making Hermione wonder what he was doing awake.

"I like the quite out here at night. So different from the days at the Burrow, or hell even the night time at the Burrow with so many people around it's hard to find peace even when you sleep as both the twins and Percy snore, a trait they picked up from our dear old dad." The laugh he got from Hermione was music to his ears, something that surprised him and made him want to hear her laugh more often than not.

Hermione watched his profile as he walked; he was more bruised up and scared up than most of the Weasley's, sans Bill of course, he was probably the strongest of them as well as Bill's field required more mental prowess than brute strength while Charlie's required both. The twins had the humor of the family down pat, while Ronald had the status of Harry Potter's best friend, and Ginny of course had the status of the only girl of the family in a few generations. They each had their own nitch in the world, even Charlie who sometimes was forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of the upcoming war. As far away as he was he still worked for the cause of the Order recruiting members from those on the Dragon Reserve and those in Romania who felt passionately about the Wizarding worlds remaining free; however divided their numbers where.

He truly was a magnificent man was her last thought as she drifted off into a dream filled sleep.


End file.
